Producers as Educators and Mentors: Learning from the Land
By: Chanin Eredia, Director of Education
As the SLEWS program comes to an end, it is worth looking back at what made the program meaningful over the past three years. The goal was to give students more than a classroom lesson about agriculture. SLEWS gave them a chance to get outside, ask questions, test what they were learning, and see how specialty crops, conservation, and natural resources connect to real work happening in their own communities.
Over the course of the program, SLEWS engaged 46 students, 49 mentors, and ESRCD staff in hands-on learning experiences focused on soil, water, specialty crops, conservation, and agricultural careers. Students participated in field days, classroom lessons, and activities where they tested water pH, learned about water infiltration, talked about irrigation, looked at soil health, and explored how conservation practices support farms, ranches, and local food systems. These experiences helped students better understand how much planning, science, and problem-solving goes into agriculture.
One of the strongest parts of SLEWS was the opportunity for students to learn from people who work directly with the land. Producers, ranchers, conservation professionals, and agricultural partners bring a type of knowledge that is hard to teach from a worksheet. They can explain what happens when water is limited, why soil health matters, how weather changes decisions, and what it takes to care for land over time.
That kind of learning matters. When students hear from someone who grows food, manages land, works with irrigation, or supports conservation, the lesson feels different. It becomes more practical and easier to understand. Students can connect the activity in front of them to a real farm, a real crop, a real career, or a real decision someone has to make.
The SLEWS intern program added another important layer to this work. Interns were not only participants; they helped support the program in real ways. They assisted with field days, outreach events, Jr. Chef and Jr. Farmer activities, SOILS Center projects, community education, and hands-on learning stations. Through those experiences, interns were able to practice communication, leadership, teamwork, and problem-solving while helping younger students engage with agriculture and conservation.
For many interns, the program created a bridge between learning about agriculture and actually supporting agricultural education. They had opportunities to see how much preparation goes into a field day, how to guide students through an activity, how to support community outreach, and how to represent a program in a professional setting. Those experiences helped build workplace skills that can be used in agriculture, education, conservation, nonprofit work, and other career pathways.
SLEWS also helped students see that agriculture is bigger than one job or one pathway. Some students may picture agriculture as only planting or harvesting, but the program introduced them to many connected areas, including conservation, education, food systems, equipment, irrigation, soil science, research, and natural resource management. For students and interns who may not have considered agriculture before, that exposure is important.
The mentorship piece was just as valuable as the lessons themselves. With 49 mentors contributing over the course of the program, students had access to adults who were willing to share knowledge, answer questions, and show them what different careers can look like. Producers and agricultural professionals helped make those connections real. They showed students and interns that learning can happen in a field, a garden, a shop, an orchard, a pasture, or even through a conversation after a field activity.
As the grant period closes, the impact of SLEWS can be seen in the students who participated in field days and lessons, the interns who gained hands-on work experience, the schools that received additional agricultural education support, and the partners who helped bring local agriculture into the learning experience. The program showed that education is stronger when it is connected to place, people, and real examples.
One thing SLEWS made clear is that producers and ranchers are not only growing food or managing land. They are also teaching, whether they call it that or not. By sharing their experiences, challenges, and knowledge, they help students better understand agriculture, conservation, and the responsibility that comes with caring for natural resources.
Even though the SLEWS grant is ending, the lessons students and interns gained from the program will continue. The field days, conversations, hands-on activities, and mentorship opportunities gave young people a chance to learn from the land and from the people who care for it every day.
